Obscure and Not-So-Obscure Japanese History, Part Two

Yet some more stamps from my grandma. Some of these historical dates are straight out of what I learned during Japanese history class in junior high, while others merely make me smile. You will see the latter mainly in the forthcoming Part Three post.

710: Nara is established as the capital. 

1858: Keio University is established. 

1858: Ports are re-opened in Japan after sakoku, and the country comes out of over 200 years of self-seclusion.

1859: The Red Cross idea is born. The actual committee was established in 1863.

1860: The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the US is ratified.

1885: Japanese begin to emigrate to Hawaii in droves after a 15-year immigration ban is lifted. They go to work in the sugar and pineapple plantations.    

 

1890 The telephone is established, with service initially provided between Tokyo and Yokohama.  

1890 The Imperial Diet (now the National Diet of Japan) has its first meeting. 

Hydrangea Porn, Part 2

When flowers get to this stage, you no longer notice the smaller details leading up to it.

(Hydrangea Macrophylla Nikko Blue, most likely.)

Hydrangea Serrata Hokkaido.

 Even the tiny buds are flowering.

Hydrangea Macrophylla Izo No Hana.The small flowers look like orchids.

 Hydrangea Serrata Blue Billow.

 Zoom in on this photo and you will see some large hydrangea bushes.

The flowers are almost evenly spaced.

 Incredibly, this cone-shaped flower is in the same family.

 The leaves are so different from the others, I initially wondered if this could be hydrangea as well.

Pure white flowers again.

Hydrangea Porn, Part 1

All of the following photos were taken around the Edogawabashi/Kagurazaka area, from people's gardens -- in pots, in bushes.

 

It started when I saw this blue ajisai (hydrangea), in the process of opening up. The blue starts at the edges, and spreads out like watercolor.

Then I started thinking about all the other hydrangeas I see during this time of the year. Like sakura, they pop up out of nowhere and seemingly dominate the scenery. This is a type called Hydrangea Macrophylla Fuji Waterfall.

Check the ant climbing over the buds.

These are rather unusual flowers.

 Does anyone even pay attention to the baby's breath-like flowers in the middle?

 Double-layered flowers.

 The water pump here is supposedly for emergencies, but the hydrangea bush is currently in the way.

 Another unusual flower. Supposedly bred in Holland only in 2002, named Hydrangea Macrophylla Sabrina? I had a very hard time distinguishing the different types of flowers.

There were three different types in this garden.

 Pure white was fairly unusual.

 Hydrangea Macrophylla Blue Wave?

My Old Elementary School

While I was visiting Sakura, I stopped by my old elementary school. Every time I visit, I marvel at how essentially unchanged the school and the surrounding area is. 

The monkey bars that no-one ever seemed to use are still overrun with tadpoles at this time of the year.

Many of them do not make it.

 

I don't particularly have the best memories of elementary school, but I always loved that we had chickens and rabbits to take care of.

There were less bunnies than the last time I visited.

The Middle Ground between Suburbia and Farm Country

Sakura, in Chiba, 20 minutes from Narita Airport. This is the town where I was born. There is very little in the way of entertainment there (even the bookstore near the train station closed down about 4 years ago), but I love how suburbia soon gives way to farms and nature.

This little farm was about 15 minutes' walk from the station. Walk up the main street, turn a street, and you find yourself surrounded by beautiful houses (often recently remodeled) and small farms.

Eggplant flower.

This house is about 25 minutes from the station, straight up the main road. This is the house that separates the suburban homes and the farms beyond. Just to the right of the photo...

...is a chicken coop.  

They have a surprisingly vast space to roam around in.

Right around the corner, in the suburban area, a man sits on his roof, trimming a backyard bush.